Dressing my oldest doll is no simple task – it’s hard to find modest Barbie clothing for an elderly lady. I don’t mean for Lily to be a stereotypical frumpy old lady (whatever that means), but I also don’t feel right putting her into Barbie’s short short skirts and midriff-baring tops.
I didn’t have any luck finding official Barbie clothing that suited her, even with a whole bin full of used Barbie clothes. Things that looked adorable on Daisy or striking on Camellia just looked downright odd on Lily.
I eventually discovered that the phrase “modest Barbie clothing” or even “modest Barbie” is a thing on Etsy, and it brings up all kinds of longer dresses.
I ended up buying a bunch of sun dresses from AmyPitreSewing, but there are lots of other sites with handmade modest Barbie clothes like TunaFairy or MyLittleDollBotique.
Lily’s sweater is off of Aliexpress. Just search on “Barbie sweater” – a bunch of shops carry it. Her bathrode and nightgown (along with adorable bunny slippers, which I don’t have her wearing) came from eBay, but I’m not having any luck at the moment bringing up anything similar when I search.
What’s odd is that my mom looked terrific in mini skirts in her 90s, so I’m not sure why Lily can’t pull it off. She has exactly the same body as Daisy – is it just that her hair is up in a bun?
She’s not going to change her look for the next few episodes (which take place, in doll adventure time, just days after the current episode. But I may play around with letting her hair down and seeing if I can get her into something more playful, if still as modest.
December 2, 2016 at 5:52 pm
She looks lovely. I’m so grateful for Etsy and the ability to tap into others’ creativity in order to create the right look for each doll. I loved your post about the soul of a doll. I find that it takes ages for me to get each doll “right.” Lily’s style is just right for her.
December 2, 2016 at 9:14 pm
And here I am fussing with her outfit thinking I’ve made her too stereotypically old 🙂